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‘Yellowstone’: Willa Hayes Actress Karen Pittman Lands Major New Role

Yellowstone fans no longer see Karen Pittman in their favorite show. That’s because Willa Hayes isn’t butting heads with the Duttons in Montana. Rather, she’s headed to Italy.

Specifically, Pittman is headed to beautiful Tuscany, where she can drink some great wine and eat fantastic food all while making a movie. Hallmark Network announced this week that it was producing its first movie under the new Mahogany banner. Pittman will star in Unthinkably Good Things, a movie that will premiere on Hallmark’s Movies and Mysteries channel. The movie will be filmed in Italy.

Pittman plays Allison, who the plot summary describes as “at a crossroads in her career and love life.” She needs love and support of her two best friends Melina (Joyful Drake) and Reesa (Erica Ash). The two friends visit Allison in Tuscany. And the visit forces the women to reexamine their own lives. The movie is a change from typical Hallmark fare. Usually, films on the main channel focus on romance, as opposed to the relationships of best friends.

Hallmark unveiled plans for Mahogany last summer. It’s based on the company’s popular greeting cards geared towards the Black culture. Variety reported that Mahogany programming will focus on “family, community, human connection, positivity and love through the lens of Black culture.”

Karen Pittman played Willa Hayes for four episodes on Yellowstone during season three. She played the CEO of Market Equities, a firm that wanted to buy out some landowners in Montana to build an airport. Those plans placed Willa in the crosshairs of John Dutton and Thomas Rainwater. Eventually, Beth Dutton figured out a way to send Willa back east. Someone accused Willa of workplace harassment and that was the end of her time in Montana.

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Karen Pittman, Even While On Yellowstone, Had Many Projects

But Pittman, even while on Yellowstone, was busy with other projects.

She’s part of the cast of The Morning Show on Apple TV +. She plays Mia Jordan, the executive producer on America’s beloved morning program. This past season, Mia had to deal with her team covering Covid, as the pandemic first started. There was the presidential election. And there still was fallout over the harassment charges against the former co-host. Coincidentally, Mia had an affair with the former co-host.

But The Morning Show wasn’t Pittman’s only project. She also was part of the Sex and the City revival And Just Like That on HBO Max. She played college professor Nya Wallace, who eventually becomes friends with Miranda, who was in one of her classes. Turns out, the writers initially wanted Pittman and Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda, to have a fling. Instead, the first season had Nya struggling with fertility issues while her husband pushed for a baby.

HBO announced this week that it was picking up And Just Like That for a season two. It’s unclear if Pittman still will be in the cast.